Saturday, November 24, 2007

Here's a model I just finished, a 1999 WRC Focus RS driven by the late Colin McRae. I again did a street version and kept the C. McRae decal to pay tribute. I was going for a WWII military airplane paint scheme with the navy blue exterior and olive drab interior panels, dash and roll cage. It turned out pretty good in person, we'll see how the pics turned out. Enjoy!

The last version of the Skyline GT-R was last produced in 2004. The USA never received this car. We did get the Infiniti G35, but that was a luxo-coupe that had good intentions but wasn't quite the street/race car you see here. Displacement is up from the last GT-R (2.6L RB26DETT) at 3.8L, still twin turbocharged. I here the price tag is about $70k and there is planned about 1500 cars to come to the states. Get on the list in January for June delivery. :)

I hear weight is up to 3400-3500 lbs compared to 3200-3300 lbs of the previous models. The S-AWC is going to make for a better handling car all around, but its a bummer to see the weight go up every year. The original Evolutions weighed 2900-3000 lbs. But, looking at the new GT-R from Nissan, it follows the same pattern, going from 3400+ lbs to 3800 lbs. Ouch! But, it also picked up 200 rated hp (480 from 280hp(we all know they were more like 350)).

Saturday, November 17, 2007

The first is a BMW 3 series touring car from the BMW museum. The next is a real Focus RS, a very cool turbocharged focus not sold in the US, next are two cars outside the little Nurburg hotel who obviously came for some track time.Chris

Here are a couple pictures of the track and the museum. This is a track with a lot of history and a lot of action. There are a number of auto manufacture's with Test Centers in Nurburg (BMW, Jaguar, etc) and many bringing new cars still under development to test. I saw the new 2008 Nissan Skyline GTR on the streets in Nurburg and of course both times I couldn't get my camera out in time to take a picture. AWD, 473hp/440tq and its coming to the USA.